Knebworth House

The Armoury and Staircase

The Staircase, the creation of Bulwer-Lytton and his designer John Crace, is dominated by the enormous romantic portrait of the author as a young man painted by Van Holst. Very little has changed since his day. The double Sight of oak stairs surmounted by lions bearing armorial shields and a magnificent pair of Nubian slaves has remained much as he knew it. The two long mullion windows contain family coats of arms in stained glass by John Hardman; the decorative motif of the oak leaf (lei) and the cask (tun) is a punning reference to the name Lytton.

Between the windows hangs the Garter banner of Victor, 2nd Earl of Lytton, statesman and man of letters. He was a champion of women's suffrage, a pioneer in the establishment of a National Theatre and a strong supporter of the League of Nations, where he was leader of the Indian Delegation 1927-28, British Delegate 1931 and Chairman of the League's Commission on Manchuria in 1932. Victor was born in India and returned as Governor of Bengal 1922-27, he was acting Viceroy for four months in 1925. The portrait of him in Garter robes which hangs at the foot of the stairs was painted by his younger brother, Neville, a professional artist who lived mostly in Paris and who is also represented in a
delightful self portrait.

Following the death of Victor's two sons, Antony, M.P. for Hitchin, killed in a flying accident in 1933 and John, a Major in the Queen's Bays, killed at the battle of El Alamein in 1942, Neville Lytton succeeded his brother in 1947 as 3rd Earl of Lytton, but Victor left Knebworth House to his Daughter, Hermione, who married Cameron Fromanteel, 1st Lord Cobbold. Neville's grandson, John, is now 5th Earl of Lytton and lives in Sussex.

Note the exposed patch of brickwork on the Armoury wall. This shows the original Tudor red brick exterior wall and the stone mullions of the Banqueting Hall windows that existed prior to the addition of this extension in the late seventeenth century.

At the top of each flight are portraits of Lady Hermione Cobbold, by her uncle, Neville Lytton in 1944 and of Lord Cobbold, her husband, in his Garter robes painted posthumously in 1989 by Julia Heseltine. This portrait includes a sketch of his grandson, Richard Lytton Cobbold, who was a page to the Queen in 1980-81.

The four children of the present Lord Cobbold, Henry, Peter, Richard and Rosina are shown together in a portrait by June Mendoza in 1980.

The collection of arms at the foot of the stairs is of varying periods, the majority dating from the seventeenth century and including one suit of armour given to Bulwer-Lytton by his friend, the novelist Harrison Ainsworth.